THE NATIONAL FOREST RESOURCES OF ALASKA ARE FOR USE 



13 



HEALY, END OF STEEL ON THE GOVERNMENT RAILROAD, 109 

 MILES SOUTH OF FAIRBANKS 



law. For no single year was the cut less than two mil- 

 lion board feet, and the average was nearly 30 million. 

 Two and one-half million board feet were cut in 1905, 

 fifteen million feet in 1909, and 45 million feet in 

 1914. The peak of 47,900,000 

 feet was reached in 191 8. With 

 one pulp sale of 100 million feet 

 already made, the amount sold 

 from the Alaskan Forests for 

 the present year will undoubted- 

 ly run well over 150 million feet. 

 If a second large pulp sale, now 

 bending, is made the total Gov- 

 ernment stumpage sold from the 

 Alaskan National Forests in 

 1920 will exceed one billion 

 eight hundred million board feet. 

 Pulp mills are coming to Alaska 

 because of economic conditions, 

 such as the scarcity and high 

 price of pulp material in the 

 eastern centers; not because of 

 any radical changes in Forest 



c 1 s 1 i CONSTRUCTION OF STEEL 



Service regulations, and in spite anchorage, pre 



of the propaganda of misinformation by the anti-con- 

 servation press. 



Not only has over 444 million board feet of timber 

 been cut from the Alaskan National Forests for com-, 

 mercial purposes during the past fifteen years, but in 

 addition the Chugach National Forest has furnished over 

 40 million feet of timber, free of charge, to the Alaska 

 Engineering Commission for use in the construction of 

 the Government Railroad. 



In addition, any bona fide settler, resident, miner, or 

 prospector may take from the Alaskan National Forests 

 free of charge 10,000 board feet of green or 25 cords 

 of dry timber each year, provided it is needed for per- 

 sonal use and is not sold. A considerable amount of 

 timber is cut under this privilege, and the fact that 

 material for building purposes and wood for fuel can be 

 obtained without cost is of great importance to the 

 local people. 



The Chugach Forest is located in the Prince William 

 Sound country, in the vicinity of Seward, Anchorage, 

 Cordova, and Katalla. The construction of the Govern- 

 ment railroad is in charge of the Alaska Engineering 

 Commission, headed by a regular army officer. The 

 railroad starts at Seward, on tidewater, and runs north 

 through the Chugach Forest on the Kenai Peninsula to 

 Anchorage, and thence north up the Susitna River. When 

 completed it will have its northern terminus at Fairbanks, 

 some 465 miles from Seward. The Forest Service has 

 granted each year since 1916 a free-use permit to the 

 Alaska Engineering Commission for construction timbers 

 to be cut on the Chugach National Forest. In 1916 the 

 Commission cut 11,363,770 board feet of National For- 

 est timber to be used in railroad construction work. In 

 1 917 over seven million feet was granted free for this 

 purpose. During 1918 and 1919 shortage of labor seri- 

 ously interfered with construction work on the railroad, 

 but in spite of this over five million feet of free timber 

 was granted each year. Since the close of the fiscal 

 vear 1919, more than ten and one-half million board 



BRIDGE OVER THE SUSITNA RIVER, 264 MILES NORTH OF 

 SENT END OF STEEL ON THE GOVERNMENT RAILROAD 



